Hey everybody! Thanks in advance for the advice!
I'm going to change the transmission fluid in my 94 850 this
Weekend. Does anyone have any pointers on exactly how to do it?
On other cars I have always just disconnected one of the hoses and let
It just pump out. And if this is the way to do it, which hose is it?
Thanks again! (-:

 

There is 2 ways to do it.
1.Drain and refill it a couple of times through the drain plug in the bottom.

2. Connect a hose to the upper cooler line and start the car and pump some out then fill it again and start it again till you pump about 12 quarts through the system.

 

I did the drain, fill, drain, fill method. Works fine.

 

I just dod mine the other day too. Didn't look too bad so I just did two drains. On one car I did it three times untill it looked good coming out.

 

DO NOT CHANGE TRANNY FLUID!!! I dont recomend it... if the gears transmit fine then you have no reason to change it...I have come across few volvos where the owners have changed trany fluid and reported that car rann like crap. My 97 volvo 850 has 316 000 km on it and tranny fluid has not been changed and it shifts smooth.

 

I never changed in my 96 850 n/a and it has 195 000 miles. Gears transmit fine. Not sure if I should do it ?

 

If you do NOT flush it and just drain and fill a couple time you should be fine. Look at you fluid on the dip stick. If it looks very dark brown and smells burnt, you should change it. I just started changing mine the last couple years. I have had 200k on cars and never had it changed, but my belief is new fluid has to be better, but like I said do not flush it. Make sure you use Dexron III fluid, that's the most important part.

 

how many quarts of oil do you use for the 1996 850 turbo automatic? where is the drain plug and the fill plug? im guessing like my last car, after you are done draining it, put the fill plug back in, put the car on level ground, then fill untill you come to the top of the fill hole? any pictures would be nice and helpful.

 

Do you want to change the oil or tranny fluid?

 

Not to hijack this thread, but how do I change the tranny fluid in my '95 850 5 speed? This is the first manual car i've owned (that runs) and also my first fwd car so I'm kinda lost.

 

Yes, i am looking to change my transmission oil for my 4 speed automatic.

 

so I was thinkin bout flushin mine too. should I not? it doesn't like to shift outta second gear when I get into it and it makes no codes.. the ones it made initially were 2nd and 4th incorrect gear ratio (p0732 and p0734)

 

Thank you JimKW. I had my mechanic do the drain and fill method. It worked out fine. I had heard from several sources that some Volvo transmisions did not work properly after a tansmission fluid change. I was really hesitant to change the fluid because of this. It is my standard practice to change the tranmission fluid on every car I have owned. My Volvo had over 200K miles on it when I bought it. Although the fluid did not look dark brown on the dipstick, my mechanic said it came out dark gray when drained. It was as dark gray as my bumpers!
I suggest this thread be posted as a sticky. Everyone should read the two best methods to do this.

 

We try to keep the number of "Stickies" to a minimum in this forum. That's why I built the "Usefull Information" thread as a "Sticky" and eliminated most of the stickies.

 

While I was going to have it up on jackstands doing everything else I did, I wanted to change my transmission fluid on our '96 850 NA. I looked it up (on Volvo manual / software) and found the old "doesn't need changing" recommendation from Volvo. I know they made the car and should be the most knowledgeable about it, but that doesn't seem healthy for a transmission. As far as I can find in my research, there is not a transmission fluid filter, so any small particle of anything in there can circulate and wreack havoc. Also, the number one enemy of a transmission is (excessive) heat, and I see no way that the old and polluted fluid that had been in there 111,000 miles could disperse heat as well as new fluid. I drained what would drain out of my pan (4.75 qts) and added that amount of new Dexron III ATF. The old fluid that I drained out was not burnt-smelling or black, but it was brownish (about like if you changed your engine oil after only 1000 miles on a clean engine - slightly brown and not clear - definitely "used-looking"). My recommendation is to drain what will drain out of the pan, replacing with the same amount of new ATF. I drain the ATF pan on my cars (1 Volvo, 2 Camrys) each time I drain the oil. It is very cheap insurance when compared to replacing or rebuilding a transmission, and it is less traumatic (than flushing 100% of ATF) to the transmission if there is any truth to the "stuff in the old ATF holding everything together" for your transmission. FWIW

Tracy